Harry Cope and Lacy Fischer celebrated victories in contested races in the primary election on Aug. 4, winning the Montgomery County presiding commissioner and circuit clerk races, respectively.

Cope, a farmer from Truxton, won the Republican seat of the presiding commissioner race by 587 votes over Montgomery City resident Ryan Poston. Cope finished with 1,954 votes, while Poston — who has been presiding commissioner since 2011 — had 1,367 votes. Cope also had the most votes in nine of the 11 precincts.

Fischer won the Republican seat of the circuit clerk race by 265 votes over Morgan DeTienne. Fischer, who has worked as an office manager/clerk at the Montgomery County Courthouse for 19 years, had 1,701 votes, compared to DeTienne’s 1,436. Fischer had the most votes in eight precincts.

Both Cope and Fischer will be unopposed in the November election.

Also, High Hill voters approved a one-percent tax measure. There were 39 voters who were for the measure, while 19 were against it. A use tax is a local tax that is applied to goods that are purchased from out-of-state sources, such as online transactions, that are delivered to and utilized within the City of High Hill.

Linda Hunn won the Montgomery Township Committeewoman race by 42 votes. She finished with 490 votes, while her opponent, Tammy Hoffmann, had 448.

Montgomery City resident Mike Deering was the top vote getter in the District 10 State Senate Republican race with 1,802 votes, compared to 1,431 from his opponent, Tricia Byrnes.

Deering, who is the vice president of the Missouri Cattleman’s Association and co-owns Nature’s Plow in Montgomery City with wife Julie, will take on John Wells in the general election in November. Wells defeated Pablo John Los 182-76 in the Democratic race.

Bruce Sassmann defeated John Grady 5,401-3,247 in the 61st District State Representative Republican race. He will face Stacy Bax in the November election. Bax ran uncontested in the Democratic race and finished with 1,145. Sassmann has been the 61st District State Representative since 2023. The 61st District represents all of Osage and Gasconade counties and part of Miller and Montgomery counties.

Jeff Myers ran uncontested in the Republican seat of the 42nd District State Representative race and finished with 5,532 votes. In three months, he will face Amy Pritchard – who won unopposed in the Democratic race with 1,912 votes – in the general election. The 42nd District serves the eastern part of Montgomery and Warren counties.

Nathan Carroz (associate circuit judge), Carole Weeks (county clerk), Sheila See (recorder of deeds), Paul Boyd (prosecuting attorney), Jackie Spinks (collector) and Lori Stiers (treasurer) won unopposed in their respective local races. All of them ran in the Republican seat.

In the other state races, county residents voted for Scott Fitzpatrick (Republican), Quentin Wilson (Democrat) and Dustin Coffell (Libertarian) for State Auditor and Bob Onder (Republican), Bethany Mann (Democrat) and Jim Higgins (Libertarian) for U.S. Representative in Congress 3rd District.

According to the Montgomery County Clerk’s office, the voter turnout was 57.01 percent, compared to 32.96 percent in the 2024 primary election. Montgomery City had the highest turnout with 65.97 percent.

“The turnout was significantly higher than the last comparable election,” Weeks said. “There was a great deal of public interest in several local races, and many citizens were engaged in the election process. Regardless of what motivates someone to vote, I am always encouraged to see voters exercising their right to participate in our democratic process.”